Why can’t we simply burn all the non-renewable waste (such as single-use plastics, etc) and vent the gasses and particulate matter into holding containers to prevent their absorption into the environment?

Question

Is it a matter of the technology not existing? I understand it’s a grossly oversimplified model and I am neither an engineer nor a chemist, but I can’t imagine that we couldn’t simply set up a furnace that vents down a cooling pipe into a container or facility that captures the gasses and toxic particulate/waste for either further processing, reuse in industry, or just to stockpile.

In: Earth Science

Answer 1

Well designed waste-burning plants will burn plastic waste to just water vapour and CO2 and even produce electricity and heat (to use for heating buildings) in the process. As long a we are talking about typical household plastics like polystyrole, polyethylene or polypropylene, you don’t get any toxic gases if the furnace is hot enough (though you still get CO2, of course). If other stuff is mixed in, you need good scrubbers, but these exist since at least three decades.

In my opinion, trying to recycle plastics is a mistake. It is only downcycling, there is market pressure to get it done in developing or lowly regulated countries, and then, the plastic tends to somehow end up in the oceans.